Concerto for Orchestra (Lutosławski)

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Concerto for Orchestra (Lutosławski) — simple, short guide

Overview
Witold Lutosławski wrote this orchestral work between 1950 and 1954 for the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, and it is dedicated to its conductor, Witold Rowicki. The piece lasts about 30 minutes and has three movements. It marks the final, crowning phase of Lutosławski’s early folkloristic style, inspired by Polish Kurpie folk music. Instead of direct folk tunes, he uses melodic ideas from folklore and reshapes them with new harmonies and atonal counterpoint, often in neo-baroque textures.

Orchestration
The score calls for a large orchestra:
- Woodwinds: 3 flutes (two doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (one doubling cor anglais), 3 clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon)
- Brass: 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba
- Percussion: timpani, snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum, cymbals, tambourine, tam-tam
- Keyboard/harp: celesta, piano, two harps
- Strings: usual string section

Structure and movements
The work has three movements:

1) Intrada: Allegro maestoso
- Opens like an extended overture with two main melodic ideas.
- Starts with a strong 9/8 ostinato drum beat, giving a tense, powerful character.

2) Capriccio notturno ed Arioso: Vivace
- A lively Capriccio (light, playful) led by the violin.
- The Capriccio is followed by an expressive Arioso played by brass.
- The Capriccio returns with the cellos and harp, bowed and then pizzicato.
- It ends with rumbling drums, basses, and bass clarinet creating a darker mood.

3) Passacaglia, Toccata e Corale: Andante con moto — Allegro giusto
- In three parts: a Passacaglia (variations on a brooding theme played by the double-basses), a brisk Toccata, and a Corale (Chorale) section.
- The Corale reappears to lead to a solemn, monumental finale.
- The finale uses material borrowed from a 19th-century Polish ethnographic collection compiled by Oskar Kolberg, and ends with a dramatic, full-orchestra flourish.

Performance history
The piece premiered in Warsaw on November 26, 1954, and helped establish Lutosławski’s international reputation. In the 1960s he shifted toward aleatoric (chance) music and distanced himself from the Concerto for Orchestra, though he conducted it in Copenhagen in August 1967 after winning a $10,000 prize from a Danish foundation.

References
This summary follows the commonly cited biography and cataloguing of Lutosławski’s works, including notes in Witold Lutosławski: a bio-bibliography by Stanisław Będkowski and Stanisław Hrabia (Greenwood, 2001).